Tuesday, October 20, 2009

There is a great streak of violence in every human being. If it is not channeled and understood, it will break out in war or in madness.

~Sam Peckinpah

A Sociopath (Psychopath, Antisocial Personality Disorder) is defined as, “A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others and inability or unwillingness to conform to what are considered to be the norms of society.” (Long, 2005)There are 7 characteristics, only three of which, are needed to be defined as a clinical sociopath.Those include:

1. Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest.

2. Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure.

3. Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead.

4. Irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults.

7. Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another person.

The list of African American athletes on this campus who appear to meet these characteristics seem to be as lengthy as the school’s roster.However, the fault of this façade lies not within this specific student demographic, but in UConn’s athletic administration, staff, coaches, and the general school community.These types of behaviors are allowed to be exhibited until the point of embarrassment; when the brunt of the fallout rests solely upon the student athlete.The sociopath associated behaviors are ignored on a daily basis, and even rewarded when displayed in settings beneficial to the school.Social supports are not set up, school related activities that a normal freshman would attend to gain community adhesion are not attended by said athletes, and normal societal expectations that are placed on every other student are abandoned.All the while, reckless behaviors are suppressed by continual practices, lengthy workouts, and violent characteristics are rewarded through the guise of sportsman-like competition.Whether it is known or not, this school is breeding sociopaths.

A Sociopath, also known as Antisocial Personality Disorder, is a documented personality disorder treatable with individual or group psychotherapy or individual cognitive behavioral therapy.“Antisocial personality disorder is one of the most difficult personality disorders to treat. Individuals rarely seek treatment on their own and may only initiate therapy when mandated by a court. The efficacy of treatment for antisocial personality disorder is largely unknown.”(Ballas, 2006)Rather than setting up a group of people to fail when exposed to traditional cultural situations, this community should practice preventative techniques in this unaddressed mental health arena.

A qualitative research study was conducted in this exact area.Examining Productive Conceptions of Masculinities: Lessons Learned from Academically Driven African American Male Student-Athletes, examined high achieving, African American, Division I athletic team members in Caucasian schools.The study revealed that high achieving African American athletes had masculine definitions that differed from traditional associations of masculinity.“These participants associated masculinity with having strong, upstanding, and moral character. Moreover, they equated masculinity with having integrity and the courage ‘to do what is right.’” (Martin & Harris, 2006) The article identified the administrator’s coaches and faculty as the persons responsible for collaborating with each other, to not only win on the field, but to remember that these young men are students first.The identity and development of these young men need to be discovered with the help of their faculty.“This effort will only be successful if institutional leaders are willing to learn more about the student athlete experience and recognize the effects of policies and procedures developed for this group.”(Martin & Harris, 2006)Expectations of the students behavior needs to be stated upfront and foremost.Ways of expressing masculinity beyond the traditional “money and power” mode needs to be explored by the coaches, so they can express these ideas to their athletes.“Furthermore, coaches could collaborate with university offices that are equipped to address issues of male gender identity such as student affairs and counseling services.” (Martin & Harris, 2006)The article also proposed that, “Identifying African American male leaders, introducing student athletes to African American faculty members, and encouraging student-athletes to live in African American-centered residence halls are all possible ways to socialize African American male student-athletes to campus.”

With Virginia Tech fresh on the country’s memory, this community needs to take a stand for what behaviors will and will not be allowed on this campus.Moreover, the fault of said behaviors need not be placed squarely on the dejected and neglected young men fresh from high school.The fault of these repugnant behaviors needs to be placed on the school and the community.New ways of serving and protecting this underserved population need to be explored and implemented.Standing idly by as another arrest happens on this campus is no longer excused by blaming others.UConn needs to be responsible, and re-examine its policy in dealing with athletes on this campus.One or two sociopaths on the team are an anomaly.Continual sociopath characteristics exhibited by more than one athlete, year after year, unfortunately speaks to the administration and direction of UConn athletics as a whole.

Monday, October 19, 2009

SO I tell this MOTHA F***A that I want to start my son in dance classes because he needs the discipline, and all my dad can focus on is the fact that if he does he might turn out to be gay?!

MOTHA F***A!!!!!!!

My son has already stabbed someone at school and according to the principle had "no remorse." He doesn't listen, wont sit still, always moving, acts terrible in school. Add on top of that I share custody with a drug abusing ghetto crappy apartment living no job having, I like my life and wont change it b***h of a father who tells my son he will beat him within an inch of his life if he doesn't fight and if he cries!

My dad is always gone, always on some trip and planning on permanently moving as soon as summer of 2010, and now he's so worried about my son being gay with his gay ppl in church having behind that he's like threatening that he doesn't want to hear about it and isn't ok with it.

F**K him! F**K HIM! WHO GIVES A F**K if he ends up being gay as long as he stops F**King STABBING people at school, and doesn't end up selling drugs on the corner with his dad. He tried to tell me that if I put him in dance, not only will he be a drug dealer and end up in jail still but he'll also be f**King everyone in the jail.

WHAT THE F**K

Does he really believe that? Is this life? So now the discipline I think dancing could offer my son, he can't have because my dad wants to be pissy?! F**K him! I don't need him. WHen he leaves, F**K him! He's such a jerk and he's always been a jerk and all this is his fault in the first place, cuz he's the one that started the whole you can't keep a kid away from his father, and now my son is sleeping on bare wood roach infested floors of his dads apt with drugs and everything, cuz I couldn't keep him away from his dad, when I could have and should have!

Not that it didn't cross my mind. Yes for a second I thought, geez there's an awful lot of gay men in dancing, but I felt that the benefits way outweighed the negatives. And the risk benefit ratio is better. SERIAL KILLER vs. GAY, DRUG DEALER vs. GAY NORMAL CITIZEN OF SOCIETY

I'm not like pro gay, I just don't think of myself as dumb. No offense to anyone but I don't want my son to be gay. But I'm not at the point where I won't take a chance to improve him just to prevent the POSSIBILITY of gayness.

Like his dad wouldn't beat the crap out of him if he ended up being that way anyways.

I DON"T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!! I DON"T WANT HIM TO BE GAY BUT IM HIS MOTHER AND I SAW SOMETHING WHEN I WAS TRYING TO TEACH HIM TO DANCE I SAW HIS WORST SIDE AND I SAW THAT THROUGH DANCING IT WAS SLOWLY BEING CORRECTED AND I DON"T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday, October 16, 2009

so it's 14 months and I'm like so happy! Really I am. The locks are thinning out and taking shape. They're taking a good shape. Most of the extensions I cut out with the exception of about an inch around the ears and stuff where I thought it was just TOO short! ugg.

Went to talk to an airforce recruiter yesterday. I asked him specifically about my hair and if it would be a problem if I joined. I don't even think he realized it was dreaded cuz all he said was, "well I'd go with a natural color if I were you." lolol. I didn't really feel like pointing it out...

Even though I cut it I can definitely see the growth and maturation of the locks. Seems like when I cut the dreds they may not have been mature enough to have been cut. Nothing crazy but it seems like they're unraveling about 1/4 of the way up. Nothing crazy noticible, but when I do I hair I noticed. it. They unraveled a tad and then seemed to swell and knotted. 90% of the dred stayed intact. It was just interesting to note that!

I didn't use the hair pin tool today I used the latch hook. It does catch quite a few other locks, but on the other hand it was definitely quicker this time around. It still took me about 3 days, but I only spend an hour to an hour and a half every day on it. So I'm still around 3 hours. However I do watch a lot of TV in the mean time.

As for the extensions. I figured out to make dern good ones, and I sewed them in. Here's what I think after a couple of washings. The synthetic looks less like my grade of hair however it holds its shape very very well. How you finish it is for the most part how it stays. The Natural hair looks just like mine, HOWEVER I cannot get the extension locks quite as small as my locks. So I see why people say it's impossible to do sisterlock extensions. I don't have sisterlocks but I have over 400 locks in my head and it's definitely hard to match the size! Then again, I'm not at all professional.

In consideration of joining the airforce, I def will be keeping these forever! For the ease of care. I cannot be in bootcamp getting rained on and all that drama in the dirt with a perm. LOL at the thought!

Monday, October 12, 2009

So I was so unhappy with my length that I added extentions. But then I cut those as well. LOL. My hair after the extensions is pretty much the same length! What was I thinking! I also trimmed my locks. I'm not sure if that was a good think. I like it. I like the "groomed" look. However some say that it makes your locks weak. UGH. So there's a picture there where I have my hair in a bun. I used a hair net (like a cafeteria lady would wear) to make the bun look extra neat. I think it does somewhat.

Here's the deal. I'm thinking of joining the airforce. I know they don't allow dreds, but they might allow me to sneak by as long as I can put my hair in a low ponytail-ugh. I'm not quite there yet.

I really will not join thought if they say I have to cut them. I love my dreds. I signed a petition that stated that congress is wrong for not allowing dreds. It's a fair way of doing nappy hair. I don't think white people really know that our hair comes out of our head nappy. I mean if I get deployed, how in the heck will I get a perm? I don't know why this is a rule. ugggg.